Lucas McCain (Chuck Connors) was a widowed
rancher living outside of North Fork, New Mexico and trying to raise his young
son, Mark (Johnny Crawford). Although how he had time to ranch is a mystery as
he was always in town confronting a desperado.

McCain's specialty was
his skill with his rifle, a specially modified Winchester with a large ring
that cocked it as he drew. Supposedly, he could fire within 3/10 of a second.
Now that's fast.

The first season was the best. In retropsect this
series was somewhat darker than other Westerns. As time passed Lucas got a bit
preachy. Always moralizing about something.

To lighten things up, in
1962 they brought Lou Mallory (Patricia Blair) on board as she worked life's
grey areas a bit. She was a love interest for McCain, who, not to put too fine
a point on it, needed a love life.

Johnny Crawford was often reduced to
finding new and creative ways of saying, "oh, Pa" and "I'm sorry, Pa."

Passings

Paul Fix died in 1983 and Chuck Connors in 1992 of
lung cancer.

Rifleman Trivia

Did you know that Chuck Conners played Major League Baseball
He played 61 games for the Chicago Cubs in 1951. He also played for the NBA Boston Celtics. Michael Ansara would play his
Law of the Plainsman character of
Marshal Sam Buckhart in two Rifleman epsiodes. "The Indian" (episode # 1.21)
February 17, 1959 and "The Raid" (episode # 1.37) June 9,1959.